


broken orphans

by rocket_rach



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Detective Comics (Comics)
Genre: Bruce Wayne and his Kids - Freeform, Bruce Wayne is a Good Dad, Clayface - Freeform, Dick Grayson - Freeform, Gen, I would say it's canon but my canon is apparently different that DC's, Make Cass and Bruce take a vacation, spoilers for Detective Comics 976, tim drake - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-06 15:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14059908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rocket_rach/pseuds/rocket_rach
Summary: “Be sorry. But be better. I still love you. I am just mad.” She scooted closer to him, placing her hand on his knee. He always forgets how young his children are, but then when they reach out to comfort their dad – which is so wrong, isn’t that his job? His children are not supposed to bear his burdens, he is supposed to carry theirs -  he is reminded of the decades he has on them.spoilers for detective comics #976





	broken orphans

**Author's Note:**

> instead of finishing my 12,358.9 unfinished stories i did this you're welcome
> 
> lemme know what you think!

_She looked at him. Maybe that was what unnerved him. Bruce had been reading body language since his parent’s bodies had hit the pavement all those years ago. He read Detective Jim Gordon’s body language as he placed a blanket around Bruce’s small shoulders. He read Kate Kane’s body language as she patted his shoulder, promising that’d they be close forever. But this small, small assassin? Her body language was unreadable. That’s what frustrated him._

_“Do you have a home?” He asked._

_She didn’t reply. She tilted her head to the side and Bruce saw her language._

_It was clenched fists and spread feet. It was moving her thumb from debilitating punch to a warning. She was listening. She… trusted him. But barely. As much as a girl trained to murder from birth could. She was Damian. She was the league. She was… lonely._

_“You trust me.”_

_Fists lowered an inch._

_“You could come home with me,” He needed to choose his words carefully. If he said ‘I could take you’ or ‘My home’ or anything – anything at all that took her choice away, she’d bolt. “You don’t have to stay. You could come and go as you please.”_

_Her head righted itself. The wind picked up in the alleyway._

_Two broken orphans in an alleyway._

_“You don’t have to choose tonight. I’m asking a lot of you. But I will come back to this alley for the next week.”_

_Then Nightwing laughed above them. As much as Batman wanted to look up, he knew the minute his focus shifted, she’d be gone. He kept his eyes trained on her._

_She smiled, which made him want to shit himself with fear. He almost did. Tim’s voice carried as his boys flew overhead, looking for some action. Her eyes flickered up. An attempt to distract._

_“The boys love company.”_

_She finally relaxed her stance. Then, she bolted._

_He knew better than to chase her._

Now, he knew where it all went wrong. Cass was broken. Clayface was dead. He had shattered his daughter in his crusade and it didn’t even surprise him anymore. With each broken child, with each child reduced to _his_ mission and _his_ crusade, he became detached. It was a lot like being in a deprivation tank. His mind knew there was a bigger, greater world that his children could embrace but his body, his fists had beaten his children down like the criminals they chased.

Bruce slammed his hand on the keyboard, sending keys flying. He did it again. And again. Crunches and heavy slams echoed through his cave. He wanted his legacy to be ultimately stopping crime. His legacy instead was taking in broken children and breaking them more. He was a flood. A rush of water that swept and broke perfectly good things simply because the water grew too much.

“Master Wayne, that is enough.”

He’d broken Alfred, too.

“ _Bruce._ ”

Bruce looked up, his steel gray eyes red rimmed. Blood trickled down the side of his hand as his old friend spun his chair and bent in front of him. A wrinkled, rough-skinned but gentle hand cupped his face.

“Call your family home. I think we’re all long overdue for a holiday, wouldn’t you say?”

“Al…”

“You still have that place on Seneca Lake. We can phone Mister Kent to watch the city while you’re gone. Take care of your family, Master Wayne.” He released Bruce’s cheek.

“I’ve destroyed them.”

“If you keep this up, then yes, you will. You’ve enough time to save them. But you’ve got to do it now.”

Bruce stood, heading over to the medical bay to clean and wrap his wound. After that was seen to, he took the elevator up to the manor and searched for his daughter. After exploring the foyer, the game room, the study, he approached her room. After knocking twice, he entered and found Cass in the fetal position on her bed. He sat down, a heavy sigh rattling through his chest as he began to sign.

“I am sorry. I’ve hurt you. I never meant for you to experience that… kind of pain.”

Her alert eyes watch his hands, his face, his eyes. She doesn’t respond.

“I wanted you have a better life. I love you so much, Cassandra. It’s easier to tell you than the boys, because you understand me even better than Al, I think. But the minute I dragged you into this battle I didn’t realize the cost of it. I should have stopped after Dick. But I’ve hurt you time and time again.” He signed.

She relaxed her hands, but kept those vibrant brown eyes pinned to him.

“I want to retire. I want to retire all of you. Maybe we could have some semblance of a normal life if we did that. But I know what forced retirement would to do all of you. It’d drive you away. That’s worse than seeing you get injured on patrol.”

Her hands flash.

“I would run.”

Bruce smiled. 

“I know you would. Probably to Superman.”

“No. Barbara and I would go to Black Canary.” Her mouth twitched in a smile.

“I’m taking all of you on vacation. I won’t ask you all to retire,” He swallows down the thoughts that grow in his head, yelling _these children are not yours! Don’t pretend to be their fathers! Damian is the only one, and you still barely deserve that honorific_ ¬– “But you are my children, and I need to protect you. Come on vacation. For a week. That’s all I’m asking.”

“You will get many headaches while we’re on vacation.”

“I’m sorry. I am so sorry, Cass. I wanted better for you.”

“Be sorry. But be better. I still love you. I am just mad.” She scooted closer to him, placing her hand on his knee. He always forgets how young his children are, but then when they reach out to comfort their dad – _which is so wrong, isn’t that his job? His children are not supposed to bear his burdens, he is supposed to carry theirs_ \- he is reminded of the decades he has on them.

Cass hugged him. Her strong, muscled arms grip him hard. He heard her crying, soft sniffling from his right ear and he hugged her just as tightly back.


End file.
